Samuel “Billy” Wilder (June 22, 1906– March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist and journalist, whose career spanned more than fifty years and sixty films. He is regarded as one of the most beloved and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age, and his films show an extraordinary range, from film noir to screwball comedy.

From a 1996 interview with James Linville for The Paris Review:

"Wilder, driven by Hitler’s ascendancy, left Berlin; his mother, grandmother, and stepfather, who stayed in Vienna, perished later in the Holocaust. He arrived in Hollywood, with only a temporary visa and almost no English, to share a room and a can of soup a day with the actor Peter Lorre. Later he upgraded his quarters to a vestibule near the woman’s restroom at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard.

Wilder began his American career at a moment when studios had begun to let some screenwriters direct their own scripts—or, as one film executive said, let the lunatics take over the asylum—a phenomenon that sparked the careers of a number of remarkable writer-directors (Preston Sturges, John Huston, Joseph Mankiewicz)."

Among the classics in Wilder’s filmography are Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, The Seven Year Itch, Sabrina, and Some Like It Hot. With The Apartment, Wilder became the first person to win Academy Awards as producer, director and screenwriter for the same film.

In the interview, Wilder discusses what it was like to come to Hollywood during that golden era, his collaborative style, his habit of stockpiling meet-cute moments:

"I had dozens of meet-cutes. Whenever I thought of one I’d put it in a little notebook. Back then they were de rigeur, a staple of screwball comedies. Every comedy writer was working on his meet-cutes; but of course we don’t do that anymore."

And what it’s like to be disappointed in something you’ve made:

"Sure, I’ve made blunders, for God’s sake. Sometimes you lay an egg, and people will say, It was too early. Audiences weren’t ready for it. Bullshit. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad."

The interview is an entertaining read, not to be missed! And if you’re looking for even more wisdom from Billy Wilder, here are our top five pithy pieces of screenwriting advice from the book Conversations with Wilder, by Cameron Crowe:

1. Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.

2. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.

3. Know where you're going.

4. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.

5. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that's it. Don't hang around.

Truly timeless advice!

And here's a delightful video interview and profile of Mr. Wilder. Excerpt of Michel Ciment's interview of Wilder: